3 Things That Made Billy Graham Really Sad

We compile these issues that late Revered Billy Graham would be looking down now, wishing he could change.

More encomiums continue to pour in honour of American preacher and evangelist, Rev. Billy Graham who died on Wednesday, February 21st at the age of 99.

So influential was he that he served as a counselor or minister to a dozen U.S. presidents, and he preached to an estimated 200 million people in 185 countries around the world.

With a near-constant presence on radio, television and the internet taking his message to millions more across the world, Graham has appeared on Gallup’s list of most admired men and women since 1955.

But he also had matters about the world and his family that made him sad at different points in his life.

From the ones he openly spoke about and those widely reported, we compile these issues that Billy Graham would be looking down on now, wishing he could change.

1. The fall of his grandson in Christian ministry

Late Graham had 19 grandchildren and his grandson, Tullian Tchividjian, son of Gigi, was the senior pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida who was defrocked in June 2015 after admitting to an extra-marital affair.

Serving 2009–2015, Tchividjian resigned after allegations of an extramarital affair, the first of more than one to which he would admit, the initial admission being sufficient for his being deposed by his denomination as unfit for Christian ministry.

Tchividjian later filed for divorce from his wife, Kim.

2. Billy Graham, during his lifetime could not tolerate racism.

During a 1953 rally in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Graham tore down the ropes that organizers had erected to separate the audience into racial sections. He recounted in his memoirs that he told two ushers to leave the barriers down "or you can go on and have the revival without me".

He warned a white audience, "we have been proud and thought we were better than any other race, any other people. Ladies and gentlemen, we are going to stumble into hell because of our pride."

3. Graham opposed same-sex marriage.

In 2012 he took out full page ads when a battle over a proposed constitutional amendment in North Carolina to ban same-sex marriage was put up for a vote.

“Watching the moral decline of our country causes me great concern,” said Graham, 93, who lives near Asheville. “I believe the home and marriage is the foundation of our society and must be protected.

“At 93, I never thought we would have to debate the definition of marriage,” Billy Graham’s statement said. “The Bible is clear — God’s definition of marriage is between a man and a woman. I want to urge my fellow North Carolinians to vote for the marriage amendment.”